Apparatus for making artificial chamois



United States Patent 06 ice 3,060,504 Patented Oct. 30, 1962 3,060,504 APPARATUS FOR MAKING ARTIFICIAL CHAMOIS Ivan Thomas and Julien Lachiche, Paris, France, assignors to Novacel, Paris, France, a corporation of France Filed Dec. 16, 1959, Ser. No. 859,890 Claims priority, application France Dec. 17, 1958 3 Claims. (Cl. 18--12) This invention relates to the manufacture of artificial chamois from a regenerated cellulose base and more particularly to a method and apparatus for making artificial chamois skins without cloth backing from a regenerated cellulose in a continuous process.

The invention provides a device for forming a uniform sheet of sponge pulp from the usual mixture of viscose, sodium sulfate crystals and reinforcing fibers, said pulp sheet then being made to undergo coagulation, finishing and other treatments for production of continuous strips of regenerated cellulose having a cellular structure that are reinforced with fibers without pronounced preferential orientation.

The nature of the invention will be better understood by referring to the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing in which a specific embodiment has been set forth for purpose of illustration.

In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is an elevation showing the pulp-distribution hopper; and

FIG. 2 is a transverse section taken on the line 22 of FIG. 1 showing the corrugated edges of the discharge end of the hopper.

In FIG. 1, a suitable volumetric pump 1 of the gear, piston or cam type feeds sponge pulp at a constant rate into a trapezoidal hopper 2 which terminates in a discharge slot 3. One of the edges 4 of the slot may be of metal such as chrome steel or the like, while the other edge 5 may be made of a flexible material such as natural or synthetic rubber or a rubber-like plastic composition. The width of the slot may be varied, in a manner known to the art, by means of screws 7 acting upon a flexible leaf 8 that bears on the fiexible edge 5. Variations in the head may readily be compensated for by adjusting the cross section of the slot 3.

Inasmuch as plain edges would give rise to a preferential orientation of the fibers, which in turn would result in a product of low transverse strength, the inside walls of the extrusion slot are formed with corrugations 9 as shown in FIG. 2.

This expedient disarranges the fibers and thus a ribbed sheet 6 is produced which, after the usual treatment, yields a cellular strip whose transverse strength is at least about 80 percent of its longitudinal strength.

The hopper need not be trapezoidal but may be flared to present any desired section.

It is to be noted that the hopper flares outwardly toward the discharge slot and at the discharge point is slightly large in section than the discharge slot 3. This arrangement permits the viscose to flow downwardly toward the discharge slot 3 without causing any appreciable rearrangement or orientation of the fibers. Hence the fibers are essentially unoriented in the final strip 6 of artificial chamois.

What is claimed is:

1. Apparatus for the continuous manufacture of artificial unlined chamois skins from cellular regenerated cellulose containing fibers, comprising a hopper having a narrow inlet end and flared outwardly toward a wider discharge end, pump means supplying viscose sponge pulp to the inlet end of said hopper, said hopper having an elongated discharge slot at said discharge end through which said pulp is extruded to form a continuous strip of artificial chamois, edge members defining said slot and provided with axial corrugations adapted to prevent preferential orientation of the fibers in said pulp as it passes through said slot, one of said edge members being composed of rigid material and the other of said edge members being composed of a flexible rubberlike material.

2. Apparatus as set forth in claim 1 in which means is provided for adjusting the position of said last edge member for varying the width of said slot.

3. The method for the continuous manufacture of artificial unlined chamois skins from cellular regenerated cellulose containing fibers which comprises extruding sponge forming viscose material containing fibers through a passage flaring outwardly toward its discharge end having an elongated discharge opening formed by surfaces having axial corrugations wherein one of said surfaces is rigid and the opposing surface is composed of a flexible material, said opening being adapted to pass said viscose without causing preferential orientation of the fibers therein, and regenerating the viscose to form a rigid sheet after extrusion through said opening.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,512,506 Saint Denis June 20, 1950 2,571,715 Henning Oct. 16, 1951 2,671,743 Lindquist Mar. 9, 1954 2,712,154 Lindquist July 5, 1955 2,720,679 Ratliff Oct. 18, 1955 2,865,048 Hudson Dec. 23, 1958 2,913,772 Buchkremer et al. Nov. 24, 1959 2,948,928 Ebneth et al. Aug. 16, 1960 FOREIGN PATENTS 641,989 Great Britain Aug. 23, 1950 812,564 Great Britain Apr. 29, 1959 

1.APPARATUS FOR THE CONTINUOUS MANUFACTURE OF ARTIFICIAL UNLINED CHAMOIS SKINS FROM CELLULAR REGENERATED 